now on bbc news. the latest business news from across the globe. globe. business today. looking past past national interests, eu finance finance ministers meet to finalise finalise its funding as the bloc bloc looks to adjust to a new world world order. artificial intelligence intelligence in the global south. south. prime minister narendra modi modi kicks off india's ai impact impact summit. hiring under pressure pressure the uk awaits the latest latest jobs and wage numbers. how how will they impact the next interest interest rate call? and flipping flipping marvellous, sweet or savoury? savoury? thick or thin? the hospitality hospitality industry looks to cash cash in on our growing appetite for for pancakes this shrove tuesday. tuesday. well, hello and live from from london. this is business today today i'm lukwesa burak. we begin

begin the programme in brussels where where european union finance ministers ministers are gathering today to to discuss the eu's future budget budget at a key time for the bloc. bloc. the european union has been been weathering something of a storm storm of late, finding itself squeezed squeezed between an expansionist expansionist russia and an economically economically aggressive china to to the east, as well as an increasingly increasingly unpredictable united united states to the west. a softer softer tone from the us over the the weekend eased some of those fears, fears, but a follow-up endorsement endorsement by the us secretary of of state on tuesday of hungary's hungary's viktor orban, the eu's eu's most eurosceptic leader, may may further focus minds. the european european commission president, ursula ursula von der leyen, has been calling calling for further european independence independence that must cover defence defence and energy, economy and trade, trade, raw materials and digital digital tech. but big changes will will require big shifts in funding. funding. so today it's the near-term

near-term budget on the agenda. but but perhaps more significant are are discussions over the long-term long-term future. eulalia rubio is is a senior researcher at the think think tank the jacques delors institute institute in paris. she joined me me earlier and i asked her what the the expectations expectations are are for those discussions today. today. yeah, indeed. today, as you you have said, they are discussing discussing the annual budget, the the annual budget at the eu level level is a low profile event. it's it's not very important. what is is more important is the parallel parallel discussion that is taking taking place on the long-term budget. budget. budget that will start in in 2028. and these are the difficult difficult discussions actually. so so today we don't expect anything anything difficult to decide actually. actually. ok. and why is this long-term long-term budget going to be significant significant particularly in the context context of today? yeah actually i i mean europe works on this seven seven years long-term budget and and this the new one that will start start in 2028 has been proposed by by the commission this summer, last

last summer 2025. and it's going going to be very difficult actually actually because the commission proposed proposed something very different. different. it could propose a big big change in the type of not not not in the size, but in the structure structure and the composition of of the budget we have today, a budget budget that 60% goes to agriculture agriculture and cohesion and is allocated allocated to member states. and now now we are shifting to a budget that that will be much more flexible and and much more focused on competitiveness, competitiveness, defence, security security and of course when there there is a reallocation of spending, spending, it's always difficult and and if you maintain the same size size of the budget, you go to a zero zero sum negotiation. some countries countries win, some countries lose. lose. so it's always a difficult difficult discussion. yeah. so so so on that point just how difficult difficult because you often think think the eu is aligned obviously. obviously. but in terms of priorities priorities of individual countries countries we saw gdp figures come come out. i think it was last week week or the week before. spain is is doing very well. i mean, what what sort of priorities do the individual individual members have in wanting

wanting more budget? yeah, actually actually that's the other problem problem that we are going to we're we're going to a budget that is much much more flexible actually, because because it's a budget we are they they are negotiating a budget that that will start in 2028. so it's it's very difficult to decide now now how you are going to spend the the money from 2028. so it's a long-term long-term budget and tries to tries tries to fit to the eu priorities. priorities. but in this moment we we are a bit lost in the eu priorities. priorities. you show it this week week when they met. it's very difficult difficult for member states to agree agree on what are the priorities priorities and how to respond to to china, how to respond to trump, trump, how much to spend on defence, defence, how much importance to give give to the eu green deal, which which was a kind of anchoring in in the past. so that's also complicating complicating the decision of the the budget, because then you have have to translate this into numbers. numbers. and it's not not only the the problem that some member states states are going better than others others is that they do not agree agree exactly how we should spend spend this money in the future. to

to india now, where france's prime prime minister emmanuel macron begins begins a three day visit with india's india's ai impact summit high on on the agenda, more than 100 countries countries are taking part in the the five day event, which was inaugurated inaugurated by prime minister narendra narendra modi on monday, saying the the event proves the country is progressing progressing rapidly in science and and technology. arunoday mukharji mukharji has the latest for us from from delhi. well, yes, i'm just outside outside the venue where the summit summit has gotten under way. last last evening, after prime minister minister narendra modi inaugurated. inaugurated. as you said, it's a a week long summit which has seen seen representation from over 100 100 countries and various global global leaders and big names were were invited on the website. we've we've been looking at names like like sam altman of openai, sundar sundar pichai there were talks of of jensen huang of nvidia also making making it, but then that was cancelled cancelled without any kind of reason reason given. but essentially the the entire objective of india is is to try and project itself and and reiterate its position as a leader leader of global of the global south,

south, especially when it comes to to the field of ai. it's an area area where india has lagged behind behind in the past, especially when when you compare it to countries countries like the us or even china. china. so it is very important for for india to try and play catch up up as it looks to fill some of those those gaps. and that's one of the the objectives of having, a summit summit like this. areas like building building more ai infrastructure, infrastructure, which essentially essentially is the physical backbone backbone of ai, or even finding ways ways of retaining talent, which india india has a lot of. essentially the the entire pitch is this is a country country of 1.4 billion people. this this is a country with 800 million million smartphone users. so this this should be the place where global global leaders would be looking at at one of the reasons why emmanuel emmanuel macron is one of the big big leaders who has come. he's currently currently in mumbai. he's spending spending the whole day there in mumbai mumbai for meetings. then he will will be coming to delhi for further further meetings. but the focus is is on collaboration and how to take take bigger leaps in the field of of ai. and that was arunoday mukharji mukharji there. ok, to the uk now now where markets will be keenly keenly watching the latest jobs and and wages numbers for december due due out at the top of the hour, the

the bank of england has said that that it expects a weak jobs market market this year after finding that that policy measures such as minimum minimum wage and tax rises have hit hit job creation harder than it previously previously expected. now, figures figures released last month showed showed the unemployment rate was was 5.1% in the three months to november. november. anna castiglione is the the director of data innovation at at the recruiters manpower group, group, and i asked her first what what her expectations are for those those figures. we're expecting today today to see a fairly flat line and and no significant changes across across unemployment, employment, employment, wage growth and other other factors. the area that we're we're all keenly watching, of course, course, is the unemployment figure figure and a large driver towards towards the unemployment figure likely likely to increase more towards the the middle of the year is the youth youth employment rate, which we know know in youth between 16 to 24 is is actually three times worse than than the general population. so overall

overall for the figures, we're expecting expecting fairly flat lined, some some fractional changes potentially potentially in unemployment and wage wage growth to remain fairly stable stable in the figures today. ok. ok. let's just stick with that. youth youth unemployment. where does the the government's fast track apprenticeship apprenticeship scheme fit in with with this? i mean it was announced announced are we expecting it to to have a significant impact. significant significant impact is definitely definitely on the cards. it's something something that will take some time. time. so in particular if you think think about the target sectors infrastructure, infrastructure, rail, nuclear, those those aren't projects that have results results overnight, but they certainly certainly are sectors that have a a skills deficit. so whilst we know know that unemployment rate is impacting impacting the number of people available available per job in those sectors, sectors, there is often deficits deficits of less than a person available. available. whereas in the general general population it's two and a a half people per vacancy. so for for sure we expect the apprenticeship apprenticeship scheme to have an an impact. taking that six month

month burden off of employers and and increasing the incentive back back to employ youth. however, we we know that in those sectors especially, especially, there are still challenges challenges for youth to receive employment. employment. for example, we know know that the driving test rate is is 4 to 6 months on average across across the uk and that goalpost to to reduce it to seven weeks has now now shifted into the end of next next year. so there's some really really tactical things employers employers can be doing to help the the youth get into the workplace. workplace. we've seen leading employers employers offer shuttle buses to to pick them up for routes, and that that can help the apprenticeship apprenticeship apprenticeship scheme scheme work because of course it's it's subsidising pay and helping helping them get on site. in addition, addition, there's also car pooling pooling scheme initiatives increasing increasing in popularity in the uk, uk, where you pay employees to help help each other get on site so there there will be impact. it will take take some time and there's still still some work to do for employers employers to make the most of this this really positive investment from from the government. and that was was anna castiglione there. and for for audiences in the uk, if you want want to know how much tax you'll

you'll be paying in the future, try try our online tax calculator on on the bbc news homepage and it will will be there for you from 7am that's that's seven gmt this morning when when we are expecting those numbers numbers to be published and we will will bring them to you. well, still still to come on bbc news sweet success. success. we'll be taking a look at at the growing appetite for pancakes pancakes changing menus this shrove shrove tuesday.

next. join me lyse doucet in our our team for special coverage on on bbc news. now, as muslims all all over the world prepare for the the start of the holy month of ramadan ramadan tonight, the influence of of islamic values on the financial financial industry continues to grow. grow. islamic finance is based on on gaining profits in a socially socially responsible manner, prohibiting prohibiting things like paying or or receiving interest and investing investing in some sectors considered

considered harmful, such as alcohol alcohol or gambling. and it's an an industry on the rise with some some $6 trillion globally in 2024, 2024, it's expected to grow to almost almost $10 trillion by the end of of the decade. for more on this, this, i spoke to umar suleiman from from the global islamic fintech company company wahid, and he told me about about the principles behind islamic islamic finance. so it's very simple simple actually. we have a screening screening methodology that actually actually seeks to remove harm from from any type of investment or transaction. transaction. so you mentioned a few few there no interest receiving or or paying it, no excessive uncertainty. uncertainty. it doesn't want to introduce introduce unnecessary risk into a a transaction. no gambling is allowed. allowed. and also actually to screen screen out any type of activity that that would be deemed harmful to society. society. so tobacco, adult entertainment, entertainment, weapons, etc these these are all screened out. ultimately, ultimately, it's looking at ensuring

ensuring that money flows in a positive positive way and that there isn't isn't any exploitation or you're you're in a situation where only only one party can win. how difficult difficult is it, though to avoid avoid because the world is so complex complex and interconnected now a a lot of those forbidden sectors, sectors, i'll say forbidden in quotes. quotes. they're very interlinked interlinked and you find them somewhere somewhere in that chain. yeah, absolutely. absolutely. but the sharia is amazingly amazingly nuanced. so it will look look at the underlying activity of of the company. how much of that that company's activity is made up up from kind of impermissible or or forbidden activity, and then you you can screen it out or if it's it's less than 5%, then that amount amount of income that you've generated generated needs to be given to charity. charity. it's called the process process of purification. you're absolutely absolutely right though. companies companies are completely interlinked, interlinked, the activity they do. do. but i think we can still push push towards doing things better better now. we've seen the rise of of esg, for example, and the un sustainable sustainable development goals, and

and there's more of an integration integration between finance and these these factors as well, which is making making sure that the market is more more nuanced. we're more moving towards towards something which is better. better. we can always improve ourselves. ourselves. and i think definitely definitely what we've seen since since the financial crash of 2008 2008 is that we need to learn how how to do business better with better better principles and building things things to last. and these principles, principles, when they're actually actually integrated into the business, business, make sure that the entire entire financial ecosystem is better better so there are bad players or or there are bad elements, but i i think we can work around them for for sure. to cars and tech now, and and i wonder if you've ever been been playing video games in the back back of a car and the motion put put you off somewhat? well, it turns turns out that there is a solution. solution. simply integrate the games games to the car. and that was just just one of the many tech transport transport upgrades on offer at last last month's ces event in las vegas, vegas, alasdair keane reports. tech

tech to. get us around is one of of the big themes of ces everything everything from land to sea to air. air. back on land, sony and honda honda are working together on the the ophelia. all of these cars have have sony's entertainment capabilities, capabilities, including playstation, playstation, remote gaming. but what what if you want to take your in-car in-car gaming to the next level? level? so in this game, i have to to push all these bombs off the raft raft and keep the chest on. but as as the car is moving, the raft is is moving too. in a similar motion. motion. and if we break, for example, example, you can see the raft takes takes a break as well. lots of people

people can game in the car using using their phone or another device. device. what's the advantage to it it being tied into the physics of of the car? so by using the actual actual live data, we're synchronising synchronising this motion. the motion motion sickness comes when the visuals visuals are not in line with the the vestibular system. so basically basically you're balancing system system of your body and having that that synchronisation you're curing curing or improving the motion comfort comfort by by a lot. so by our system system we can allow gaming while while driving for most of the people people and having them enjoying such such a good entertainment. for now now this is something to keep passengers passengers entertained. but could could that change with autonomous autonomous driving? am i'm dead. dead. that's shrove tuesday or pancake pancake day here in the uk which which as you can imagine, drives drives massive demand for the ingredients. ingredients. and i'm talking about about flour, eggs, lemon and sugar. sugar. but it can also be a boon

boon for the hospitality sector looking looking to cash in on the low cost, cost, high profit tasty treat. well, well, francis agyapong is the head head chef at christopher steele. steele. this is an american restaurant restaurant here in london and he's he's created a pancake menu especially especially for shrove tuesday, which which he explained to me earlier. it's a menu full earlier. it's a menu full of like like chocolate apple. we have matcha matcha on there. we have your classic classic buttermilk pancakes, so every every bacon and also we got a savoury savoury pancake which is infused infused with truffle fresh black black truffle shavings. yeah. so so we tried to like give everybody everybody a little bit of something. something. so if you love your chocolate, chocolate, we got the chocolate on on there. if you love your matcha matcha we got the matcha on there there which comes with a japanese japanese style pancake. and then then we have the chocolate cookie cookie dough on there as well. so so this is every item on the menu menu then is a pancake of some varieties. varieties. that is this how it is?

is? i mean, how much demand has there there been? are you fully booked? yeah, yeah, i think we started started yesterday. so the pancake pancake week is working from the the 16th to the 20th the whole week week and today we're fully booked booked lunch and dinner. there's there's a few spaces, there's a few few spaces but it's going to be a a great day. it's one of the most most celebrated days of our calendar. calendar. now, i know your industry industry is is, you know, finding finding it very hard to recruit chefs. chefs. why exactly? i think after after covid, a lot of chefs and people people in the hospitality trade decided decided to reconsider their careers careers and just decided that maybe maybe the long hours and the hard hard work wasn't what they wanted wanted to do. so i think a lot of of people just took a change in their their career. like yourself actually. actually. isn't it because you had had a career change? i believe olympic,

olympic, a former olympic triple triple jumper, member of team gb, gb, of course. so why the change? change? why did you swap from the the track to the kitchen? i've always always done both. i never really really stopped. i always did both both track and chef in because i i think for me it was a good focus focus and a good balance because because when i was training hard hard that took up a considerable considerable amount of my time and and then i could come to work and and then refocus in a different way way and still add the same type of of discipline and elements that i i use in my training to be a great great triple jumper, and then added added that to try to be a great chef chef as well. francis agyepong they're they're speaking to me earlier and and don't forget that you can get get the latest business and economics economics news not only from the the channel here on business today today and throughout the day. you you can also head online. all you you need to do is follow the business

business section of the bbc news news website or of course the app. app. and there you will find a bumper discover the world on bbc news in association with turkish airlines. airlines. i was 17 years old. i came came here for just two weeks and and i saw this place and i was like, like, oh, my god, i'm from here. here. so recently i had the opportunity opportunity to get my greek citizenship citizenship and i'm currently living living with my yaya anna. my grandmother. grandmother. ever since i found out out that ikaria was a blue zone, zone, i haven't been able to stop

stop talking about it. so i'm glad glad you're here. so a blue zone zone is a place in the world where where research has shown that people people live exceptionally longer longer and ultimately happier lives. lives. people move slower here there's there's a saying called siga siga, siga, which means to take it slowly, slowly, to not rush things. being being present. you might go by a a platia cafes and you'll see people people sitting and talking for hours hours with the same people. new cups cups of coffee. there's almost an an art in doing nothing. as you're you're travelling through the island, island, you notice the rugged beauty beauty of the mountains, the beautiful beautiful blue of the aegean sea. sea. you almost feel time stops. stops. so we are at the rock of ikaros. ikaros. it's a bit tricky to find find it, but if you stay on the road road you'll find your way. ikaros ikaros and his father daedalus were were trapped by king minos in crete crete in order to escape. ikaros ikaros father created wings out of of wax. ikaros is having an amazing amazing time flying in the sky. he

he flies too close to the sun and and then his wings melt and he falls falls into the sea. and that rock rock is supposedly where he fell fell and why ikaria has its name. name. i'm not sure if many tourists tourists know about the anti-pirate anti-pirate houses. you'll see houses houses and churches built into boulders boulders because people wanted to to camouflage as much as possible possible and look invisible. ikaria ikaria was a very poor island, so so they were eating what they could could find in their gardens. they they were utilising herbs, vegetables vegetables that they had. when we we go to kemal's restaurant, you'll you'll see they still focus on the the traditional diet. all of their their recipes are plant based throughout throughout the week. sunday is the the only day of the week they cook cook meat. so why do people make make it to 90? here in ikaria, the the lifestyle, the diet, how much much sleep people get, the low stress stress levels, the exercise, the the healthiest lifestyle practices practices have been ingrained in in daily life here for centuries. centuries. this is it's one of the

the many hot springs that ikaria ikaria has. it's one of my favourite favourite places. the water is our our radioactive. do your research research and check with your doctor doctor if it's something that you you want to participate in. but i i think i'm going to. as you'll see, see, ikaria is one big mountain and and there are hills everywhere. and and so traditionally people were were walking up and down mountains mountains for miles for centuries. centuries. and they still do this. this. some of my favourite things things to do are to go to the beach. beach. probably they have surfing surfing there, volleyball. my yaya yaya still goes on walks with her her cane even though she's 91 years years old. so go and visit her friends. friends. it's a big sense of community community here and that really holds holds everyone together in the evening. evening. in the summertime, one of of my favourite things to do is go go to aparna alluri. it's a festival festival where the home village will will host. they'll make food for for everyone and there's music and

and dancing all throughout the night night and people will dance even even until the sun comes up. my grandmother grandmother and grandfather were were born here in ikaria and they they moved to the united states to to have a better life for their family. family. and now for me, the better better life is here in ikaria and and that's what i'm currently doing.

live from london this is bbc news. i'm catherine byaruhanga. president president trump warns iran to make make a deal over its nuclear programme programme or face consequences as as key talks between us and iranian iranian officials get under way in in switzerland. a bbc verify we've we've been tracking the us military military build-up in the middle east east as washington continues to put put pressure on iran. hillary clinton clinton talks to the bbc about the the epstein files as she and former former president bill clinton prepared prepared to testify to a congressional congressional committee. geneva plays plays host to talks between senior senior ukrainian and russian officials, officials, which follow us brokered brokered negotiations in the united united arab emirates. and i'm lukwesa lukwesa burak coming up in your business business news